The Beginning of a Wonderful Friendship
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: How would friendships have developed if Hermione had been sick with a Muggle disease on her first ride on the Hogwarts Express? Completely AU, set during first two weeks of Harry's first Hogwarts year. Hermione's POV, sick!Hermione


**The Beginning of a Wonderful Friendship - by Healer Pomfrey**

Hermione was very excited. Ever since Professor McGonagall had taken her to Diagon Alley on her eleventh birthday last September, she had read her first year school books over and over along with several other books her parents had agreed to buy for her when she had begged them to visit Flourish and Blotts again in spring. Tomorrow, she would finally ride the Hogwarts Express to travel to her new school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione couldn't wait to be able to attend Hogwarts and to – hopefully – gain good friends for the first time in her life.

At dinner, Hermione wasn't hungry at all. Although her mother had made rice with curry chicken, her favourite meal, Hermione only played with her dinner, causing her parents to throw her sharp looks.

"Hermione, if you're so excited because of tomorrow that you can't eat anyway, why don't you just take a bath and go to bed and sleep?" her father finally suggested. "When you wake up, it'll already be tomorrow."

"All right," Hermione agreed and quietly left the room, throwing her mother a grateful look when she followed her upstairs to prepare the bath for her.

After soaking in the warm bath for a while, Hermione felt incredibly tired and was glad that she could go to bed. "Mum, it's cold tonight. Can you give me another blanket?" she asked her mother, who looked at her in disbelief.

"Maybe the water was a bit too warm. I'm sorry, sweetie. I don't think you'll need another blanket. You'll get warm soon enough," Mrs. Granger replied softly, gently tucking her daughter in. "Good night, sweetie, sleep well." She lightly brushed a kiss on the girl's forehead and quietly left the room, leaving the door ajar.

'_Tomorrow I'm going to Hogwarts_,' Hermione thought happily as she closed her eyes in exhaustion. However, sleep didn't come easily. She still felt cold, and a dull ache behind her temples began to bother her. By the time her mother came to check on her before going to bed herself, Hermione somehow felt unwell. Even her throat had begun to hurt.

"Mum, I'm still cold and my head and throat hurt a bit," she told her mother, causing Mrs. Granger to lay a hand on her daughter's forehead in concern.

"Maybe you caught a cold," Mrs. Granger said worriedly and fetched a thermometer from the bathroom, which she gently coaxed under Hermione's tongue. While they were waiting for the result, she spoke to her daughter in a soothing voice, gently wiping a few errand strands of hair from her flushed face. She sighed when she finally took the thermometer back. "38.3; Hermione, I'll give you something for the fever, and then we can only hope that it'll come down; otherwise you won't be able to travel to Hogwarts tomorrow."

Hermione looked at her mother in shock. "But Mum, I have to go," she said firmly. "I will go, even if I'm sick tomorrow. I can take some medicine with me, and I'll be all right."

Mrs. Granger sighed. "We'll see, Hermione. Now try to sleep." She carefully adjusted a wet towel to her daughter's forehead, and when she looked in on her daughter half an hour later, the medicine had made her drowsy enough to finally drift off to sleep.

When Hermione woke up in the morning, she felt absolutely horrible. Her ears seemed to be filled with cotton wool, her throat was extremely sore, the dull ache behind her temples had turned into a splitting headache, and she felt hot and cold at the same time. Seeing that her fever was exceeding thirty-nine degrees, her mother called the paediatrician, who fortunately was a good friend of the Grangers and agreed to quickly come and check on Hermione.

"She has a bad infection of the upper respiratory tract. I do not recommend for her to travel to her boarding school today, especially if it is as far as Scotland," the doctor said thoughtfully.

"But I have to go, and I will go," Hermione said firmly. "It's not that bad."

The doctor, who had known Hermione since she was born, exchanged a concerned look with Mrs. Granger. "Very well, Hermione. I'll put you on antibiotics then. You'll need to take them for ten days, and as soon as you arrive at the school, you have to go to the school nurse and follow her instructions." She scribbled a few sentences on a piece of paper and handed it to Hermione. "Give this to the school nurse together with the antibiotics. Now, get well soon and have fun at your school."

"Thank you," Hermione said gratefully, feeling utterly relieved that she was allowed to travel to Hogwarts in spite of being sick.

Mr. Granger quickly drove to the apothecary to fetch the medicine, while his wife stayed with Hermione, glad that they both had taken off the morning to accompany Hermione to the station anyway. By the time they had to leave for King's Cross, Hermione still didn't feel better.

"Hermione, are you sure you want to leave today?" her mother asked in concern. "We can contact Professor McGonagall and tell her..."

"No Mum. I'll definitely go to Hogwarts today," Hermione replied firmly.

"Very well then, don't forget to go to the school nurse and to take your medication," Mrs. Granger once more told her daughter, pulling her into a bear's hug, while her husband lifted her trunk onto the train.

"I'll be careful," Hermione whispered back, hugging her parents, before she finally boarded the train. '_It's very crowded. I won't get a compartment for myself, where I can stretch out and sleep for the next few hours_,' she thought in disappointment and finally entered right the first one, where one single boy was sitting. She dropped into the seat opposite the boy, leaning against the window in exhaustion. "Is it all right to sit here?" she queried, glancing at the boy. "I'm Hermione by the way."

"Hello Hermione. I'm Harry," the boy replied softly.

"I'm sorry, would you mind if I stretched out here on the seats? I'm a bit sick," Hermione whispered, sighing in relief when the boy agreed immediately.

"Of course," he said as he stood from his seat and gently helped her to lie down on the seats on her side of the compartment. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thank you. I hope the antibiotics will kick in soon, so that I'll feel better later on."

"Shall I...?" Harry began but was interrupted when a red haired boy entered the compartment.

"Can I sit here? Are you first years as well?"

"Of course." Harry shrugged. "This is Hermione, and I'm Harry."

"I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," he introduced himself, looking up startled when Hermione let out a few harsh coughs. "Are you sick?" he asked, glancing at the girl with an expression of fear and disgust.

"Just an infection," Hermione replied in a small voice.

"A what? Is that a Muggle disease?" Ron asked frightened and hurriedly left the compartment as he saw Harry nod. "I better sit somewhere else."

During the next few hours, Hermione's condition slowly improved as the medication began to take effect, and the two first years spent a few hours talking about the magical world, about Hogwarts and about their families, noticing that they had much in common. By the time they arrived at Hogwarts, Hermione had the impression as if she had already gained a good friend.

So many months had she been looking forward to walking into the Great Hall to see the charmed ceiling; however, when she followed her classmates into the Great Hall, she felt very dizzy and was glad that Harry was walking next to her, ready to steady her if necessary. However, all of a sudden Professor McGonagall called her name, and Hermione uncomfortably dragged herself to the stool, sighing inwardly. '_I don't care in which House the Hat sorts me. I just want this to be over quickly, so that I can go to bed_.'

Suddenly, a small, high voice interrupted her musings. '_Hmm, what am I going to do with you? On the first impression I thought Ravenclaw, but maybe..._'

'_I'd like Professor McGonagall as Head of House. Could you place me into Gryffindor please?_' Hermione thought back.

'_All right_,' the Hat agreed and shouted, "Gryffindor."

Hermione wearily handed the Hat back and tried to keep herself as upright as possible as she dragged herself over to the Gryffindor table, sighing in relief as she was finally able to sit down for longer than just a moment.

She realised happily that Harry took the seat next to her and threw him a tired smile.

"I bribed the Hat into placing me into Gryffindor. He wanted to sort me into Slytherin, but I told him I wanted to be in the same House as you," Harry whispered. "Are you feeling all right? Are you not going to eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry," Hermione whispered back, before she gulped down her fifth glass of pumpkin juice, unobtrusively swallowing her next dose of the antibiotics at the same time.

"Shall I ask someone where we can find the nurse, so that I can take you there?" Harry asked, eyeing his new friend in concern.

"No Harry, thank you. I hope I'll feel much better tomorrow," Hermione replied, sighing in relief when the Headmaster officially ended the feast and a prefect led them to the common room.

Four other girls shared the room with her, and Hermione had the impression as if they were all very nice; however, she felt too miserable to remain on her feet any longer and immediately retired to bed. '_I'll tell them when I feel better_,' she mused as she drifted off to a much needed sleep.

In the morning, Hermione still felt sore and she knew that she was still running a fever. However, she quickly took the antibiotics and dragged herself through her classes, trying to hide from everyone but Harry how bad she felt. '_It's so easy to talk to Harry_,' she thought when they sat in a corner of the common room during lunch break. When she didn't want to eat anything for lunch, Harry had suggested to retreat to the empty common room and rest for a while, and when Hermione thanked him for his understanding, he merely shrugged and told her how his relatives had treated them when he was sick.

"What I can't understand," he said thoughtfully, "is why you don't go to the nurse. She won't lock you into a cupboard because of being sick, and she won't scold you because of it either."

"But she'll keep me in bed for days, and I don't want to miss classes," Hermione replied, tiredly stretching out on the sofa.

"It's all right; sleep for a while," Harry said softly. "I'll wake you up in time for the afternoon classes.

"Thank you, Harry. You don't have to stay with me though. You should go and eat lunch. I don't want you to get sick as well."

"I'm used to not eating; that's no problem," Harry replied soothingly, causing Hermione to relax and drift off to sleep.

On the following day, Hermione felt much better. Nevertheless, she looked up in shock, when the Headmaster announced at breakfast that all first year students, who had grown up in the Muggle world, were supposed to go to the hospital wing after their last afternoon class in order to receive a combined vaccination for several magical illnesses.

"All children, who grew up in the magical world, have received their immunisations during their childhood. Those, who grew up in the Muggle world, have to receive their vaccinations at this stage. However, this year you're lucky, because Madam Pomfrey will not take you to St. Mungo's but perform the vaccinations here at the hospital wing together with Professor Snape, who will pick you up in the entrance hall after your last class," he finished his explanation.

'_I hope they won't realise that I'm sick and keep me there_,' Hermione thought as she sat in her History of Magic class, inefficiently trying to concentrate on the ghost professor's babbling. "Harry, do you think they'll notice that I'm running a temperature?" she whispered to her friend when they left the Great Hall after lunch.

Harry threw the girl, who during the last few days had become his first friend, a concerned look, before he glanced around to confirm that they were alone in the hall and carefully laid a hand on her forehead. "I think you feel a bit warm; I'm not sure though," he said worriedly.

"All right, then I'll return to my dormitory and take my temperature. I have some medicine for fever, which I could take," Hermione replied, and the two first years quickly returned to Gryffindor, glad that they had Transfiguration in their first afternoon class, so that it was not too far a detour.

"Come with me to my dormitory, since I can't access yours," Harry suggested and led Hermione to the boys' dormitory, making her lie on his bed, before he fetched a thermometer from the bathroom. Noticing that Hermione had laid on his bed in obvious relief, he worriedly held the Muggle device out to her, observing as she adjusted it under her tongue. "38.6," he finally read from the display, throwing Hermione an uncertain glance. "I'm not sure about temperatures, because my aunt never bothered to take mine. Is that a fever?"

"Yes, everything above 38.0 is a fever," Hermione sighed. "I'll just go to my dormitory and take some medicine, and then it's time to go to class."

Twenty minutes later, when the two first years were sitting in their Transfiguration class, Hermione mused, '_I hope it was all right to take two paracetamol in addition to the antibiotics, but I somehow feel much cooler now_.'

"Are you sure you don't want to tell them? You're still feeling lousy aren't you?" Harry asked in concern as they trailed along after their classmates to the hospital wing.

"No, I'll be all right," Hermione whispered back, shooting Harry a warning glare.

When they arrived in the hospital wing, the Mediwitch made them sit on the first four beds and successively pointed her wand at their heads, frowning when it was Hermione's turn. "It's not a fever, but your temperature is slightly elevated. Are you feeling all right?" she asked kindly.

"Yes," Hermione replied innocently, causing the Mediwitch to nod.

"Very well then, we'll give you your shots now," she said, motioned to the Potions Master to take the other two beds, before she began with Hermione and Harry.

"You might feel slightly sick or feverish after these vaccinations," Pomfrey informed them when everyone had received their shots. "In that case, you must come back to me right away. Now I believe it's already dinnertime." With that they were dismissed.

It didn't take long for Hermione to notice that something was terribly wrong. She woke up in the early morning hours, bathed in cold sweat and hardly able to breathe. Her headache was back full force, and she felt hot and cold at the same time. '_I need to go to Madam Pomfrey_,' she realised, gasping for air in shock. She dragged herself down to the common room; however, by the time she reached the round room with the fireplace, she was extremely dizzy, and colourful stars were popping up in front of her eyes. Fearing that she was going to pass out any minute, she lay down on the nearest sofa, resolving to wait until she felt a little better. She was just on the verge of falling asleep, when a cold hand on her forehead caused her foggy mind to turn back to awareness.

"Harry," she breathed in relief, feeling extremely happy to see her friend. "I don't feel good."

"I can see that," Harry replied softly. "Can you get up and walk with me to the hospital wing, or shall I go and call Madam Pomfrey here?"

Hermione allowed him to help her sit up, before she buried her head in her hands and let out an exasperated sigh. "Harry, I feel so dizzy, and I see stars all the time."

"All right then, hold out for a moment. I'm going to call the Mediwitch," he promised and hurriedly left the room.

It seemed like an infinite amount of time until Harry returned with Madam Pomfrey in tow. The Healer immediately waved her wand over her, frowning as she conjured a stretcher and magically moved the girl. "She is very ill. Mr. Potter, do you know Ms. Granger well?" she asked, while she made the stretcher float out of the common room.

"Yes," Harry replied. "Oh well, not really well, but we've been friends ever since we met on the Hogwarts Express."

"Do you know if she took any potions or medicine, before you received your vaccinations yesterday?" Seeing that Harry was hesitating, she added in a firm voice, "Ms. Granger is gravely ill, and any information you can give me could help save her life."

Harry looked at the Healer in shock. "Yes, she has been taking antibiotics from before we came here, and I think she took something for her fever yesterday."

Pomfrey returned his shocked glance. They entered the hospital wing, and she placed Hermione, who was only half conscious, on the bed right next to her office. "Mr. Potter, please fetch Professor Snape. Do you know how to use the fireplace? Otherwise, you'll have to go and get him. Just knock at the door of his office; he'll hear it. I need to go to St. Mungo's and get help."

Hermione followed Harry leave with her eyes, suddenly feeling very alone and miserable. '_Poor Harry, having to go and fetch Snape in the middle of the night; the professor will hate him even more_.' After what seemed to be ages, Madam Pomfrey returned with an older Healer in tow, who immediately waved his wand over her several times. The two Healers began to talk in hushed voices, and during the following minutes, Hermione saw them connect her to half a dozen devices. '_What are they doing?_' she mused but felt too miserable to enquire or examine the machines with her sore eyes.

Hermione wearily noticed that Harry returned and Pomfrey began to give Professor Snape instructions what potions she would need. With closed eyes, she listened to his soft, baritone voice, in which he replied, "Poppy, I'll be back with everything I have in stock in a few minutes. In the meantime, you need to check on Mr. Potter. He nearly fainted in the hall."

'_Harry?_' Hermione thought, terrified. '_I hope he didn't catch the flu from me_.'

"Mr. Potter, lie down here on the next bed and let me check on you," she heard the Mediwitch instruct her friend, before she slowly succumbed to a sleeping spell Pomfrey had unobtrusively cast at her.

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By the time Hermione woke up, she felt much better. '_Did these things happen during the night, or was that just a dream?_' she mused and hesitantly opened her eyes, only to realise that she was indeed in the hospital wing. It already seemed to be late in the morning, considering how bright the light was that fell through the tall windows on both sides of the room. She still could see half a dozen strange devices around her bed, and Harry was curled up on the bed next to her, peacefully asleep.

"Good morning, Ms. Granger. How are you feeling?" a soft voice penetrated her ears, and the Mediwitch stepped around her bed.

"Much better. I'm sorry," Hermione replied, ending up coughing.

Madam Pomfrey sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. "I have just notified your parents," she began to explain gently. "The combination of the Muggle medicine and the vaccination shot was very dangerous and had grave effects on your body. We're not certain about the extent yet, but your lungs suffered from the effects. Your life is not in danger anymore; however, it was a close call, and you can deem yourself very lucky that Mr. Potter found you in time. He probably saved your life.

"Harry," Hermione whispered as she looked over to the bed next to her, letting out a few harsh coughs. "What's wrong with him?"

"Apparently, he caught the respiratory infection from you. However, we didn't notice it early enough, especially since he wasn't running a fever yet when he received his shot. If we hadn't vaccinated him yesterday, we could give him potions for the illness, but in this case, the illness just has to run its course I'm afraid. You'll both be stuck here in bed for at least a week."

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During the first three days in the hospital wing, Hermione and Harry felt absolutely miserable. They were both running a high fever and were suffering from sore throats and headaches, but the Mediwitch could only do so much to relieve their symptoms. Feeling too miserable to even keep their eyes open, the two first years drifted in and out of sleep all the time. When their fever finally broke, they still remained very ill but were at least able to sit up without having colourful stars clouding their visions, and they began to talk about everything that came into their minds.

Every evening, Professor McGonagall visited her little lions, and as soon as they felt better, she began to tell them things about the magical world that she deemed interesting for them to know.

"Professor," Hermione spoke up one day, reaching for the teacher's cold hand, "could you please ask Madam Pomfrey to release us? We're missing so many classes."

"I'm sorry Ms. Granger, but I have no say in this. Madam Pomfrey has to decide when she'll release you, and as far as she told me, she is not very contented with both of your conditions. Only this morning she told me that she was concerned because your recovery was taking much more time than expected."

"Professor, could you please at least bring us our assignments? We need to do our school work," Hermione begged her urgently.

"As long as you're running such a high fever, you're not allowed to do any school work, but as soon as Madam Pomfrey tells me that your conditions have improved, I'll bring you something to do," McGonagall promised in a soft voice, gently bathing the girl's flushed face with a cool cloth.

"But we are already much better," Harry threw in weakly, sneezing a few times.

"I believe that immediately, Mr. Potter," the Gryffindor Head scoffed, glancing at the monitor that was constantly displaying Hermione's and Harry's vital signs.

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A few days later, one of their classmates, Neville Longbottom, was being taken into the hospital wing with a broken hand. Madam Pomfrey mended his bones in the blink of an eye but instructed the boy to stay for observation for another hour. Seeing Hermione and Harry in their beds, Neville stepped over and hesitantly sat on the edge of Harry's bed.

Hermione carefully glanced around and, confirming that no one else was nearby, asked the boy, "Neville, can you do us a huge favour and bring us some notes or at least a parchment with our assignments or some school books? We're going crazy here, because they don't allow us to do any school work."

Harry nodded eagerly. "Yes Neville; that would be great."

"All right, I'll do that, but will Madam Pomfrey allow me to visit you?"

"Ask her," Harry suggested. "We'll try to beg her as well."

Neville exchanged a few words with Madam Pomfrey, and the Mediwitch allowed him to come once a day and visit her two patients, provided that he didn't bring any school work. Not wanting to get on the Healer's bad side, Neville kept his promise; however, he came to visit Hermione and Harry every day after the end of classes and told his new friends what the first years had learned in class that day.

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By the time Hermione and Harry were finally released from the hospital wing, they had become good friends with Neville. From that time onwards, the three friends always stuck together and were soon known as 'the Trio'.

The Trio's friendship lasted through all their Hogwarts years and even became stronger when Harry and Neville together managed to attack and kill Voldemort in a huge fight in the Ministry of Magic at the end of their fifth year.

After their NEWTs, all members of the Trio remained at Hogwarts as professors. While McGonagall took over the Headmaster position from Dumbledore, who chose that time to retire, Hermione became her successor as Transfiguration teacher and Head of Gryffindor, Harry became professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Neville followed Professor Sprout as Herbology Professor.

Ten years later, Hermione and Harry married, and two years after the hugest wedding party Hogwarts had ever seen, their colleagues Neville and Severus became godfathers to their twin babies Godric and Salazar.

Shortly before her fortieth birthday, Hermione apparated the twins to King's Cross for their first ride on the Hogwarts Express. "I'll see you at Hogwarts," she told her sons and watched the train leave the station, thinking back to her own first ride on the train. '_That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship_,' she mused as she prepared herself to apparate back to the school.

**The End.**

_I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them._

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story._


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